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841 Million Undernourished? On the Tyranny of Deriving a Number

Author

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  • Svedberg, Peter

    (Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University)

Abstract

The FAO provides estimates of the prevalence of undernutrition which are claimed to be comparable over countries and time. These estimates form the empirical foundation for the resolution adopted by 186 governments at the World Food summit in 1996, with the intent of reducing the number of undernourished people by half before the year 2015. In this paper, it is demonstrated that the FAO estimates are unreliable indicators of the scope of the undernutrition problem, that they erroneously find chronic undernutrition to be most prevalent in Africa, and that they tend to direct policy in the wrong direction. Anthropometric measurements are argued to be more reliable and relevant for all purposes for which indicators of undernutrition are needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Svedberg, Peter, 1998. "841 Million Undernourished? On the Tyranny of Deriving a Number," Seminar Papers 656, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iiessp:0656
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    Cited by:

    1. Zoltan Tiba, 2002. "Food aid for food security - trends and changes in the 1990s," IWE Working Papers 133, Institute for World Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    UNdernutrition; Measurements; FAO; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices

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